Wood's near-dunk was the cause of discussion among his teammates, and some good-natured ribbing when he couldn't quite get high enough up to flush the ball.

Howell got off a two-handed dunk on the break but his relatively modest vertical leap is also a topic of conversation in the locker room.

"I'm just trying to dunk like C.J. Leslie," Howell said after the game, with Leslie standing five feet in front of him.

Leslie was actually taken out of the game after his dunk near the end of the first half but it was because he had two fouls. Coach Mark Gottfried talked to Leslie briefly when he took him out of the game.

Leslie said Gottfried wasn't talking to him about the dunk.

"He did say I better make it," Leslie said.

2. Progress, against Delaware State at least

finds the target ..

N.C. State needed a last-second shot by Wood to beat the Hornets last season. Wednesday's game was a blowout. State gave up 70 points to the Hornets last season and only 44 on Wednesday.

N.C. State also showed rebounding improvement against the Hornets, an undersized MEAC team. The Pack had a 49-32 advantage on the glass on Wednesday, compared to 35-31 in last year's game.

3. Another slow start

As lopsided as the final score was, State led just 20-18 after 13 minutes. The Pack was sloppy early on in the first half with seven turnovers contributing to its problems on offense.

The Pack started slow against Western Carolina, too, last Saturday. Some of that can be chalked up to the opponent but good teams are self-motivated and if State is going to make noise in the ACC, to nine or 10 conference wins, it can't let such outside factors influence its effort.

With Duke and UNC struggling, looks like NCSU is climbing. Next year should be the true turning point as they win the league and go far in NCAA tourney. Rivers and Barnes are over-r-rated and I think the other conferences are taking note. Big East will make up for their lapse last year and should put at least 6 teams in sweet sixteen. Should be fun to watch the transition!

Worried C.J. Leslie will leave Raleigh for Washington. Obama has a couple of posts he needs to fill in the cabinet and on his underground chain net street ball league. Apparently C.J. has a weakness for Five Guy's and Newport's.... conclusion, he gone.

It a shame that a player and coach have no more class than to take on a "scrimmage" game then do a move like that. As much as I an not fan of a lot of the ACC schools, try that move on them. See how that plays out. Guess it shows how "classy" NCS has become.

N.C. State has done a great job, but probably won’t finish well. Look for Clemson and WFU to end the year strong. Lou Alcindor’s Nephew is a scoring wonder at WFU, they will dethrone UVA as the surprise team. A little worried that the Tarheel’s are leaving for the SEC now that they have their Football program back to Championship level. I like N.C. State but Mark Gottfried could leave any day to go back into broadcasting. New Year lot’s to think about, but one things for sure that dunk was superduperfragilisticexbeeallidocisous!

About this blog

David Scott has been with the Observer for 28 years and has written about ACC, SEC and other college sports in the Charlotte region. He covers Wake Forest, South Carolina and college soccer for the Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer.

J.P. Giglio covers the ACC for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1997, and the Observer.

Andrew Carter covers the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Observer and News & Observer.

Laura Keeley covers the Duke Blue Devils for the Observer and News & Observer. Follow her on Twitter.

Chip Alexander covers the Carolina Hurricanes and college football for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1979, and the Observer.

Luke DeCock has worked for The News & Observer since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist for the Observer and News & Observer in August 2008.

Tim Crothers is an author and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated who is joining the sports staff to write a regular column during the rest of the college basketball season.